Packages having plastic product holding members mounted to paperboard graphics cards are well known in the prior art. A typical example of such a package is the blister card package. This type of package has a clear plastic blister, or product holding member, which is glued, or otherwise adhered, to a paperboard card backing. The blister has a raised product holding portion which is typically used for holding one or more products for retail display. The graphics card backing provides a back to close the blister, provides support for the product holding member, and typically includes graphic illustrations and written information pertaining to the product to be held in the product holding portion of the product holding member. To open such a package, the product holding member is torn away from the paperboard backing, to open the back of the product holding member, either by breaking the adhesive bond between the product holding member and the paperboard card, or by ply separation of the paperboard card. Thus, opening a blister package is messy and effectively destroys the package. Since the blister package cannot be re-sealed, a product contained in such a package cannot practically be removed from the package for demonstration to a potential buyer.
Another disadvantage of blister card type packages is that the package cannot be completed until the product to be contained is inserted in the blister, after which the card is glued or heat sealed to the plastic blister. This last operation typically requires gluing or sealing equipment, and may have to be done at other than the most convenient location. For example, products would typically have to be shipped from the product manufacturer to the package manufacturer for packaging. Alternatively, the blister card package components could be shipped from the package manufacturer to the product manufacturers for completion of the packaging process, but this would require the product manufacturer to maintain and operate the required specialized gluing or heat sealing equipment.
A third disadvantage of the blister card type package is that gluing or heat sealing of the card can damage and obscure decoration or writing on the card around the blister. This limits the available card space for product promotion and can negatively affect the appearance of the package which can also detract from the product contained therein.
A prior art container structure which overcomes some of the disadvantages of blister card packages is a basic box structure having paperboard portions and clear plastic portions for displaying a product contained in the box. The assembly of such box structures, however, typically requires multiple folding and gluing operations which must be performed manually, or, more typically, using specialized machinery.